Banking aspirant Judo Capital is preparing to claim a slice of the Australian household deposits market with the launch of a sharply-priced digital savings account.The strategic push into consumer deposits is part of a strategy to diversify the funding base of Judo's embryonic business lending operations.Judo has not yet obtained a full banking licence from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority but the company earlier this month lodged a trademark application for the words "Judo Bank".The trademark application is an indication that the company has entered the final stages of the licensing process from APRA.Banking Day understands that the company will launch an app-based banking platform under the Judo Bank moniker after it has a secured formal licence from the regulator.While Judo has positioned itself in the local market as a small-business bank, the push into retail deposits should come as no surprise given the online banking expertise it has assembled in the last 18 months.Judo's co- founder Alex Twigg previously was key player in the formation and development of NAB's direct banking platform, UBank.Twigg has managed to lure the core of UBank's original management team, including NAB's former head of retail deposits, Patrick Nolan.Others include Jeff Nel, who spent more than six years developing the UBank business case and Glenn Appleby who was previously a retail digital banking consultant at NAB. Since joining Judo in February 2017 Nel has overseen the configuration of Judo's banking platforms, while Appleby left NAB in May last year to take up the sensitive role of chief information security officer role at Judo.Banking Day believes that Judo will look to be a price-leader in the online savings market, thereby presenting a new challenge to the likes of ING, CUA, Bank Australia, ME and UBank. Judo is currently funding loans as a non-bank lender through a A$600 million wholesale facility and surplus capital it raised last year from investors. While many local banking startups have struggled to attract seed capital to launch their operations in Australia, Judo's business case has drawn wide from local and offshore investors. In August last year the company raised more than $140 million from a raft of institutional and professional investors that included the Abu Dhabi Capital Group, the Ontario Pension Trust and China's Zhong Yi Investment Corporation.